I wanted to take a moment to share my story and individual struggle with mental illness, the system we all live in and why it is important now more than ever to advocate on behalf of those living with various mental illnesses. My name is Dan Olson and I have been involved in mental health and treatment in one form or another for the past 25 years. I was removed from the home as a child due to severe physical and mental abuse. I placed in various foster and group homes because I was born into a cycle of poverty and alcohol abuse and when removed from my mother’s care, there was no support system there for me. This was the early 90s and I was acting out at the time due to severe mental trauma and was diagnosed as ADHD and placed on medications. None of the juvenile treatment programs was able to break through to me but they did plant some positive seeds that were able to bear some fruit in the future. My rebellion and lack of structure led me to harder juvenile corrections more focused on punitive philosophy and eventually my actions led me to the State Correctional Facility. From that point on for many years I was lost in the system, lost in my own mind and anger. But I had hope. I had a child and he stuck with me always in the back of my mind. I was determined to not allow him to succumb to the same problems I had, I was committed to being a father and self-improvement.  It was a struggle and many mistakes have been made on the way but I earned a Clinical Psychology Degree, and through the intellectual understanding of my mental blocks I was able to overcome them.  I wish I could say that education is the complete answer but I don’t believe anything is so simple. My education introduced me to ideas and concepts that continue to place me in direct opposition of authority. I belief in the mental health field today there is entirely too much focus on profits and pharmaceuticals.  This knowledge and struggle against what inevitably can only be described as the double bind of society and attempt to solve an unsolvable problem led me to have a psychotic breakdown. To those familiar I relate this breakdown to Carl Jungs own psychological experiment into neurosis. I had more run in’s with the police and at one point was actually beaten and tazed.  Today I am diagnosed as some latent form of schizophrenia. I can if I am not aware spiral into psychotic episodes that seem to be based in ideas of dissociation. With the support of my psychiatrist we are on a test run of allowing me to be in charge of my own treatment using principles of mindfulness. It is my hope that possibly I can discover new ideas and treatments for mental disease while continuing to work on my own self-improvement and recovery.  I hope to be returning to education soon and to the MASC (Masters of Communications Studies) studies program at Edinboro. I have found that intellectual stimulation, goals, and sobriety great benefits to my attitude and mental health. I hope that I can be a beacon to others struggling through the same dark rooms I once did and can combine my street knowledge and prison experience with my Clinical Psychology and Communication Studies to become the kind of leader and advocate people suffering with mental illness deserve.

I was recently at a dinner with two friends, when we began discussing mental illness and mental health treatment.

All three of us have openly had periods of struggle with both depression and anxiety, but we all had very different takes on treatment, particularly in regards to antidepressants.

“I wouldn’t go on them,” said the first friend.

“I would go on them, but just until I feel better,” said the second.

My take was the opposite: I have been taking antidepressants on and off my entire life, and since deciding to take them consistently nearly three years ago, my life has turned around. I plan to be on them forever.

Conversations like this are not uncommon. When it comes to mental health issues, opinions are often polarized and strongly held.

I understand that antidepressants are not for everyone; many people are fortunate in not suffering from mental illness, and even many of those who do would prefer to have medication be their last resort.

For me, medication is a part of a more comprehensive treatment plan to avoid falling back into the throes of the major depression that I know always lingers beneath the surface of my delicately balanced equilibrium.

I remember what it feels like to be unwell.

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Hello.  We all can live a great, purposeful life managing Bipolar Condition or any mental health situations. 

The social stigma of mental illness used to bother me to no end…and contribute to my problems!  I’m over that now, but I prefer to call it Bipolar Condition vs. “Disorder”.  I also prefer to discuss Mental Health vs. “Illness”.

My story in general: 

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I thought that I had accepted my mental illness long ago.  After all, I was taking medication and attending counseling after being hospitalized for months in a state psychiatric hospital.  Here I was an “advocate” for mental health but refused to disclose to anyone that I was suffering.  It wasn’t until I moved back to my hometown and got involved as a mental health advocate for NAMI that I realized what exactly accepting a mental health diagnosis meant.

Accepting meant that I was going to no longer stigmatize myself for being ill.  A condition, is a condition, is a condition.  I wouldn’t treat someone with diabetes any differently for being ill so why was I holding myself up to such a ridiculous standard?  Accepting meant that I was not afraid to stand in front of a group of 20 strangers and disclose what I thought was my biggest secret in order to educate the community.  For so long I wanted change to the system, change to mental health care.  The only way that change is going to happen is if we all accept our conditions and reduce the stigmatization.  Through acceptance and education comes change.

That change is exactly what I am seeing in myself and my community now.  After going through facilitator training for the NAMI Connection Recovery Support Group program I started a support group for adults with mental illness in my community.  I now sit on the advisory board for my mental health agency and my local NAMI affiliate as a mental health consumer.   I am no longer afraid to say that I have a mental illness and advocate for those who have not yet reached that stage in their recovery or are unable to advocate for themselves.  There is help and there is hope.

My name is Michelle Schlosser Russell and I am a Mental Health disorder person suffering from Bi-polar Disorder as well as ADD. I have a 6 year old son who is also suffering with ADHD and different types of learning and behavior disorders. Everyday it is a different challenge for us to survive in this mean cruel world but of course we definitely try to make the best of it. It is routine for us to wake up every morning and take our medications as well as every night before we go to sleep. We try to interact with others as normal people do but it is very hard as people with our disorders have difficulty getting along with others and understanding others.

My son especially has a hard time just listening and learning with and to others. So you can see how living day to day is challenging to us. I have a hard time holding down a job and saving money and it causes a lot of problems in my life. We are constantly on the verge of losing our home and I struggle daily to make sure my son and I live as normal people do and so therefore I make sure to jot down when our rent is due and I am always late which costs me an extra 100 each month that I really dont have. I jot down when our light bill is due and this is also another bill which has given me trouble because I have forgotten to pay it before and my lights have been turned off which has lead me into trouble with trying to keep my son.

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Hello, I have always thought that sharing my story with the mental health community is important to bring hope to others that are just like me.

I’m a 37 year old divorced mother of two boys. I have been in therapy of some kind or another since I was 7 years old. Mental illness runs in my family as well as substance abuse addiction. I believe I was born with my many disorders that progressed and worsened as I got older, abused illegal drugs, prescribed medication and had my children. In my early childhood I showed all the many signs of OCD. I also grew up in an extremely chaotic family where my mother suffered terribly with her own mental illness that was never acknowledged or treated and an emotionally absent father. My two older siblings coped with this by using and abusing drugs and my older sister was put into rehab when I was seven. My older brother simply moved away and is still an addict today covering up his own mental health issues. My younger sister was extremely emotionally disturbed and would act out violently towards my parents but especially towards me. She would later become a drug addict for many years and thankfully entered recovery 4 ½ years ago.

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There is a phrase - “I’m mad and I’m not going to take it anymore.”  Well, I’m mad and I’m not going to take stigma home ever.  We need to change the-name/title/catch phrases/.  Mental Illness is not the case for everyone.  And, Mental Health is everyone’s, not just those who have a brain disorder function, be it chemical, hereditary, or imposed.  We need more discussion to brain storm the “Stigma” with new definitive terminologies to distinguish the varied conditions of mental disorders.  

It is time we with mental illness spoke out with a clear voice. Simply to say despite our mental illness we can not only exist but thrive. It starts with confidence that is always objectified. Whether it is affected by ourselves or the people around us. I believe mental health is the new civil rights initiative of the 21st century. We who suffer will not be cast aside. Or even more, we shall not be labelled by our illness. We know we suffer but we do not have to be reminded of it by the social culture we live in today. Many call it a stigma to mention mental health. But to get help and get better this stigma must be exhausted. The main focus of this message. However, we still are stronger than the images suggest. We are mental warriors. Let us therefore use the fortitude to drive off our own illness to combat the enemy we encounter which has no face. But rather it’s character is displayed in dismal mental health support for many of our comrades. Displayed in the notion that unsatisfactorily there will never be a cure. Sure it is a major hurdle to overcome. But in the words of our savior Jesus Christ “with God anything is possible.” I know this is a different way of thinking. But I also know thinking any direction else is not only unproductive but dismissive. I have suffered too long to accept the notion that the next generation will deal with the effects of our inaction. Rather I am willing almost certain that we will win the fight against mental illness.

-Kevin Jose

I’ve been battling mental illness most of my life. I was first diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) when I was in the 1st grade. At that time, mental health wasn’t spoken about and no one knew what was wrong; even I didn’t know what was wrong. It wasn’t until later in life that I found out that ADHD was a mental illness. I was then diagnosed with bipolar disorder, which later turned into bipolar-depression when I was 17. A year later, I was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, which I later found out was Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD). Back in April of 2017, I was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Through out my life, these illnesses have defined me. They defined me by how I was coping with life, school, etc. Now, I refused to be defined by these illnesses. I’m now getting the help I need and I know one day I will recover. I’m now speaking up more about mental health and how it affects people. I know the more I speak up about it, the more people understand. I hope that by sharing my story, it will inspire someone and let them know that they are not alone.